Chapter 6: This Is Heavenly Secret

"My elementary teacher was Song Xiance, and my master was Li Qian. I, a humble scholar, have not yet passed the provincial examination, so I have no formal master."

The implementation of the imperial examination system began as a struggle by imperial power against the aristocratic clans of the Sui and Tang dynasties; by the early Ming, it was thoroughly perfected and flourished. It was a scientific and fair system for selecting talent, yet it simultaneously formed a vast teacher-student network. The North-South List Incident during the Hongwu reign is enough to reveal the terrifying power of this emerging force.

For instance, one has always heard of poor, pedantic scholars, but rarely of poor, pedantic provincial graduates or metropolitan graduates.

Just to speak of passing the metropolitan exam, one's teachers include: the elementary school master (elementary school), the subject-teaching master (private school), the academy exam master (the child's exam consists of three stages: county exam, prefectural exam, and academy exam, yielding three masters), the lecture master (lecturer in the Imperial Academy), the provincial exam master, the lecturer (teacher at the Imperial Academy), and the metropolitan exam master, who is the Emperor.

This constituted a vast network of relationships spanning from officials to the gentry class during the Ming Dynasty.

An official had very many teachers, very many disciples, and even more fellow students; this was also the capital for the bureaucratic class to confront imperial power.

Seeing Li You answer normally, Cao Er sat back down, yet his gaze upon Li You still felt very wrong, but in the end, he merely nodded slightly toward Wu Zhuge.

"Heh, you donkey, truly a scholar!"

Wu Zhuge narrowed his eyes slightly and spoke: "Then tell me, why can't we form a joint venture? As long as you can explain the reasoning, I will believe your ghost story!"

Li You paused briefly before speaking: "Your Highness has long held the precious land of Longmen, and this mountain stronghold possesses the posture of a reverse scale. Yet why should you hold the ox whip for others? Since ancient times, only when strength is equal can cooperation be discussed; when strength is unequal, one is mostly swallowed up. Better to be the beak of a chicken than the hindquarters of an ox!"

"What use is all this talk?" Wu Zhuge was not stupid; he naturally understood these principles clearly, so he was not at all satisfied with Li You's argument. 【Note】

Li You continued to feign calmness and spoke: "This student does not wish to die, nor does he wish to see you brave heroes dig your own graves. Going to Pingli and Xingan will surely be a one-way trip; Pingli is perilous and easy to defend but hard to attack, with government troops lurking like tigers and wolves around it. Even if Zhang Xianzhong conquers it, he will mostly be a homeless dog... Bandits, bandits! With no agricultural production outside and no permanent base inside, they roam everywhere like locusts and cannot win much of the people's hearts. Following them, one will ultimately fail to achieve great things!"

Hearing this, Cao Er's eyes instantly lit up.

"Fail to achieve great things? Haha... Great things?"

Hearing these two words, Zhang Zhuanggen could not help but laugh, exclaiming loudly: "We, a band of mountain-occupying bandits, what great things do we want to achieve? And what great things could we possibly achieve?"

"My Lord, your words are mistaken. It is said that Yan Zi, without a body of five feet, was enfeoffed as the Prime Minister of Qi; Kong Ming, without the strength to tie a chicken, was appointed as the Military Advisor of Shu Han... Therefore, do kings and generals have a specific breed? Those who achieve great things are judged by their heart, not their deeds; if judged by deeds, the poor have no capable men!"

That Li Zicheng was merely a courier; Zhang Xianzhong was merely a peddler. Now, which of them does not raise an arm and call, causing the nine provinces to split apart?"

Li You noticed that Wu Zhuge's originally disdainful expression had changed, so he immediately pressed his advantage: "The Great Ming is doomed to fall; this is a heavenly opportunity unseen in a hundred years!"

Upon hearing these words, not only did the monkey-faced Zhang Zhuanggen stop shouting, but even some of the surrounding henchmen ceased their clamor. The six men locked in the water prison with him also stared with wide eyes at Li You standing before them.

Li You felt pleased inside. The current situation of the Great Ming was drawn from some memories in this body concerning Song Shenxian; combined with his own multi-level marketing tactics, he believed it was quite effective.

It was just that Li You himself did not know that most people were actually shocked by his final phrase, "The Great Ming is doomed to fall." After all, the Great Ming's two-hundred-year reign of Jiangshan had blessed even the grass and trees; since they were born, they had been accustomed to it.

Most importantly, a scholar had already stepped into the gentry class. By all accounts, he should share weal and woe with the Great Ming court. How could a scholar hope for the Great Ming's destruction?

Wu Zhuge snorted coldly and said: "There are many rebels in the world; why did you just say you specifically wanted to join me here?"

"This is heavenly secret!"

"Damn it, what heavenly secret? Speak quickly."

Li You frowned, hesitated and wavered, then suddenly whipped his sleeve and spoke solemnly: "Very well... then I shall speak. Has Your Highness recently felt an increasing need to drink, an increasing need to eat, and skin itching?"

Wu Zhuge suddenly stood up, his eyes bulging, and cried out strangely: "How do you know?"

At this moment, he was truly shocked and immediately became impatient. Lately, he had often felt dry and irritable, weak and fatigued, with excessive drinking and frequent urination.

"Because Your Highness is shedding scales! Now the hidden dragon is in the abyss!"

Li You naturally would not say he suffered from Xiao Ke syndrome, which is diabetes in later times, so he used the memory of divination from Song Shenxian to continue deceiving him.

"Damn it, speak clearly!"

Wu Zhuge's face turned somewhat red; at this moment, he was truly shocked by Li You.

"Humans receive essence from water and receive spirit from fire to become human. Essence combines, then spirit is born; spirit is born, then the form is complete. Thus, knowing that which is complete on the outside, therefore the body, appearance, and everything are all cause and effect."

Just look at Your Highness here: your voice is loud like the dragon's roar resonating, your two cheekbones pierce your temples, your two ears stick to your head, the corners of your mouth face the Heavenly Granary, and the rims of your ears reach the Sea Water. Sitting like a nailed stone, rising like floating clouds; form and spirit are naturally both marvelous, and the granaries are naturally abundant. This is a truly noble appearance!"

Even according to the ancients' 'single look at the steps of physiognomy,' and Your Highness's face: the corners of the eyes tilt upward, and the skin is peeling. This must be a python reincarnated, lying dormant in this Ni Lin Ba place to establish a mountain stronghold. And 'Ni Lin,' 'Ni Lin,' does it not precisely correspond to 'the hidden dragon in the abyss'?"

These words were so divine, flattering, and mysterious that everyone fell silent.

Wu Zhuge was now completely deceived and suddenly remembered this spring's "Song Dajian."

Some thoughts he dared not even raise; once raised, they instantly became an addiction. Even his mind was now somewhat dazed, as if he saw himself draped in a yellow robe, displaying his power and glory.

Delighted in his heart, Wu Zhuge habitually pinched Da Yun'er's round buttocks hard. Da Yun'er's eyebrows furrowed slightly, yet her eyes remained fixed on Li You. Under her heavy breathing, her chest heaved violently. She stared at Li You below the stage, whose talent and elegance were stunning; his lips were slightly parted, and his eyes sparkled with strange light.

"Damn it, well said! Come, come, Scholar, come closer... then stay in the mountain stronghold and plan well with me."

Li You walked up to the earthen platform and also noticed Da Yun'er staring intently at him. He boldly swept a glance over her chest, then raised his eyebrows slightly, looking exactly like the flirting of later times.

This explosive method made Da Yun'er's body tremble slightly, and her face immediately flushed red.

However, the people on the stage and below the stage each had their own thoughts, and indeed, stirred by Li You's stirring words, their minds were wavering; no one noticed this scene.

"But what if Zhang Xianzhong truly breaks through the Pingli Pass?" Zhang Zhuanggen pressed.

"If Pingli is broken, the ones who should be anxious are not us, but the Prince Rui!" Li You said with a smile, light as wind and clouds.

In the twenty-ninth year of Wanli, Emperor Shen Sect Zhu Yijun enfeoffed his fifth son, Zhu Changhao, as Prince Rui, establishing his fiefdom in Hanzhong.

According to rumors: The construction of Wang Fu took 26 years to complete. The magnificent and luxurious Wang Fu occupied almost one-quarter to one-third of Hanzhong Fucheng.

Shen Sect demanded 3 million mu of land for Prince Rui from the localities, but after the Shaanxi localities exhausted their efforts to confiscate, they only managed to seize over 100,000 mu, including 4,152 mu in Hanzhong and 150,000 mu in Chang'an.

Besides the annual ancestral allowance, Wang Fu also extended its hand to confiscate wealth from salt taxes. The three prefectures of Xi'an, Fengxiang, and Hanzhong all needed to pay the Wang Fu salt for support and silver for food. 【Note】

This Zhu Changhao was naturally the younger uncle of Chongzhen. Under the Zhu Ming imperial family's style of loving relatives but not the people of the world,

whether it was high-ranking local officials or governors of several provinces, the crime of losing a fiefdom was a charge no one could bear, not even Yang Sichang, who was currently in high imperial favor.

These words made everyone realize that even if Zhang Xianzhong broke through Pingli, he would absolutely be chased and beaten madly all the way; where would he have time to retaliate against their small Longmen Shanzhai?

Everyone was immersed in Li You's eloquence. The only one who coldly observed Li You's torrent of speech was Cao Er.

【Note】: The word "diao" existed in the Ming Dynasty; its usage and meaning are the same as today. *Xing Shi Yin Yuan Zhuan*: In the previous chapter, a classmate left a comment asking who Zhou Longgao was. Zhou Longgao, nicknamed Zhou Da Diao.

【Note】: This statement appears in *Ming Ji Bei Lue* by Ji Liuqi of the Qing Dynasty, *History of Ming: Biography of Prince Rui Zhu Changhao*, and *Collection of Chinese Local Chronicles: Shaanxi Prefecture and County Chronicles Compilation 50: Republic of China Hanzhong Continued County Chronicles*. However, it contradicts some early Qing unofficial histories, such as Qu Dajun's *Cheng Ren Lu* and folk records that revered Prince Rui, turning his death into a display of heavenly thunder and finally spreading the story that he ascended to become a Buddha. This seems to contradict official historical records. Furthermore, Ji Liuqi, this mathematician, sometimes wrote things that were simply too outrageous... perhaps this is open to discussion.

The Ming Dynasty took two years to compile the Yuan History, while the Qing Dynasty took ninety years to compile the Ming History, and the hosts were mostly Donglin-Fushe literati who defected from the Ming. Combined with the fact that during the late Ming period, the 143 princes of the Great Ming were almost all cut from the same template of wine-sacks and rice-bags, this also seems open to discussion.